Do you Kickstart?

November 11th, 2012, 02:03

Our news is dominated these days with crowdfunding campaigns - be it Kickstarter, Indiegogo or even independent efforts.

Do you see this as a new era, supporting indie and middle-tier developments without the burden of publishers - or do you want a finished product before you spend your hard-earned? Is there yet another perspective?

Counter to Kickstarter's ethos, I seem to be only drawn to well established individuals/companies to support; I need their good track record and history to provide a kind of guarantee for my investment.

I have supported Wasteland 2 and Grim Dawn so far. There have been several others that I am definitely interested in, but I am waiting to see how these pan out before investing in others. I like the general concept and think it is a good way to bypass the traditional publishers and their demands.

I just wonder what is going to happen whenever a high profile project with a lot of backers fails? Will people shy away once they have been burned?

I've actually supported 4 Kickstarters, but only 3 were games and one of those was a nominal $10 pledge. To pull in the big money I want to see a team with organization and history, i.e. an operating business with a track record.

Although I have supported over 10 projects (from games to a film, some webseries projects and even a podcast).

I am not actually in a good financial situation, so I have called my kickstarting/indiegogoing to a stop.

My reasoning is that if I even wait several months for most AAA release to drop in price significantly before I buy it, it is quite insane if your normally that conservative with money to buy things years in advance with no guaranteed delivery. I even never pre-order anything, maybe a week for release twice per year but never months in advance.

It's time some projects come to fruition (and with that I mean the end product in particular). Two webseries have been produced and completed, for one I had a physical tier so I have yet to receive that. The movie has just released it's trailer.

Ofcourse, no games have yet been produced (although the podcast funding included a short game), which is understandable since they take longest to produce.

Maybe, I should give myself a yearly kickstarter budget, since I actually do like the concept. But it can be very easy to lose sight and keep on funding things you might actually forget about after a year.

In all honestly I have only kickstarter one project by an unknown, but it was just the lowest tier. For the rest it were mostly projects by people who know their stuff and I was confident they could deliver. So I don't doubt I will get my mony's worth. It's just a matter of do you spend this money on something you are not getting now or do you spend it on something you can play right now.

So, my current answer is: Yes, I've supported a bunch!
But the answer for the next three months to a half year will be: Not anymore - because of my tight budget.

I'm afraid I belong to the last category.
There were projects ( like Jane Jensen project ) that I would gladly pay 10K$ if I had the money, but due to the fact that Dollar is extremely expensive when it's conversed to Iranian currency, I could never participate in any KS project. I never noticed the preciousness of money until this whole Kickstarter sensation started.

I've backed 7 PC games, a Pathfinder pen and paper adventure book and a set of virtual tabletop monster tokens. So far, I've gotten back monster tokens and a bunch of PDF's! And a demo of a game that turned out pretty weak and a beta of another game that turned out pretty good. I tend to stick to low tiers, though. I'm not rich or anything

I certainly love the concept but have only really dabbled into Project Eternity so far.
I appreciate the coverage of the phenomenon here on the Watch, as it brings to your attention projects that ordinarily one might miss out on hearing about.

I made the account only now…
10 successful funding PC games, 3 unsuccessful and 1 which I'm still hoping end up being successful.
I pledge only to the lowest tiers that offer me a digital copy of the game.

So far I've backed 6 PC game projects, 3 tabletop gaming products and a fantasy art book. So yeah, I pretty much have gotten caught up in the phenomenon. I'm glad the Watch covers Kickstarter stuff.

I truly think it's revolutionizing the way niche publishing operates. I'm not so deluded to think that some projects won't fail but overall I see it as a very good funding platform. Most of the projects I've backed have provided steady updates and shown progress. One has shipped the finished product.

I've pledged to a mixture of unknowns and people with established track records. I realize the whole thing is a bit of a gamble but I think if we don't take chances on some of these projects the gaming world is doomed to stagnation. The big publishers certainly won't take chances.

I wish I had more money to throw at it - I basically just use my "gaming budget" and try not to go overboard. There are very few new games I'm compelled to buy anyway and I also have a huge backlog to play to keep me busy while waiting for KS projects.

I'm in the one or two group. I've pledged to Project Eternity and Sui Generis. Since I don't expect Generis to make it, I've really only pledged to one game where money has actually left my wallet. I need a certain level of graphics to back a game, either that or somebody who has done recent work that I like. Obsidian made FNV, which I love.

Originally Posted by Frozen Fireball
I'm afraid I belong to the last category.
There were projects ( like Jane Jensen project ) that I would gladly pay 10K$ if I had the money, but due to the fact that Dollar is extremely expensive when it's conversed to Iranian currency, I could never participate in any KS project. I never noticed the preciousness of money until this whole Kickstarter sensation started.

Don't worry - you will still be able to participate in the end results of most Kickstarter campaigns - i.e. Project Eternity & Wasteland 2 will be available on gog.com. Sometimes I have the same dilemma as you - I wanted to support water bottle project, but paying $60 for plastic water bottle was a bit expensive for me too. Besides I don't have credit card and I can only participate in those projects that offer PayPal option.

Originally Posted by SpoonFULL
Counter to Kickstarter's ethos, I seem to be only drawn to well established individuals/companies to support; I need their good track record and history to provide a kind of guarantee for my investment.

I used to look at Kickstarter as an investment platform for games until I read to your pledges are donations and the recipient of aforementioned donation IS NOT OBLIGED to fulfill his promise - "by law" they don't have to deliver the game or any other final product they promised. Your pledges are non-refundable.
However I believe in big projects as well - it's better for Obsidian to make $100 millions in revenue by making a Project Eternity than "steal" $4 millions. The other thing IMO that pushed Obsidian to crowd funding was the fact that they got ripped by the publisher of Fallout New Vegas (Bethesda) promised the big bonus under the condition that the Metascore will be at least 85. They sold 5 million copies of the game (not including the Ultimate edition) and the Metascore was only 84…. so no bonus and the greedy publisher is happy.

I supported a bunch of Kickstarter campaigns (Wasteland, Shadowrun, Giana Sisters, the Chris Roberts one, Planetary Annihilation, the new Amanda Palmer album and a few others).

And I view spending money on a Kickstarter campaign like going out to the pub and having a few beer. Sometimes you only get a hangover, but occasionally you'll get lucky and end up having an enormous amount of fun.

Originally Posted by xep624
I used to look at Kickstarter as an investment platform for games until I read to your pledges are donations and the recipient of aforementioned donation IS NOT OBLIGED to fulfill his promise - "by law" they don't have to deliver the game or any other final product they promised. Your pledges are non-refundable.

WEll according to Kickstarters Accountability rules, project creaters are legally liable:

Is a creator legally obligated to fulfill the promises of their project?

Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) We crafted these terms to create a legal requirement for creators to follow through on their projects, and to give backers a recourse if they don't. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.

But I have my doubts that it would be feasible to legally enforce a refund e.g. So I would also consider it better to consider it a donation with potential benefits.
I have backed 5 projects so far, indlucding two who failed (Aimee and tortured hearts). KS currently seems to favor small projects by big names. I hope in time people will also consider giving newcomers more of a chance.

So far back Project eternity,Wasteland 2,Grim Dawn,Arakion,Legends of Einsfald, Sui Generis and I am sure there are some more I can't remember atm.
From non gaming I backed Fallout nuka break season 2(They reached stretch goal where they bring Chris Avellone and Tim cain as co-writers and actors btw)and Space command.I am one of people that always complains about EA,Ubi and rest of crew so supporting kickstarter seems quite logical to me.